General Intake / Exhaust Mods

buffbaker · September 1999

Yeah, the factory wire are 7mm "whatevers" and I replaced them with some Accel 8.8mm so called "Racing Wires". Do they help? I dunno... They probably just added another 2mms of thicker insulation around the same kinda wire??? Were talking about 2-3hp. No biggie... I just had nothing else to add and this is more of a detailing mod than anything. To tell ya the truth, I installed them because I liked color it added in my engine compartment.

As far as the Bolt-on air filter system, it's a big metal tube with a cone filter on one end and the other end bolts on directly to the throttle body. A round rubber cylinder secures the metal elbow on to the throttle body and a little adjusting is needed. A couple twists of a screwdriver and your done. The air filter cartridges drop right into the air box intake. I used those filters on my wife's Probe GT since the front has a factory air scoop.

Any questions, email me by double clicking on the blue Buffbaker. Thanks...

racdyn · September 1999

you know what....I try to cone shape K&N filter...my car was actually losing power~! its wierd...but what can I say...

zbad71 · September 1999

On the filter charger kits, like the K&N Gen II, do they come with a Mass Air Flow sensor? If not, how does it keep from messing with the computer? Does it incorporate the stock MAF into the Gen II intake system? I think that my 99 Silverado expects to have a signal from the MAF, doesn't it?

Also, if I use just a K&N filter replacement instead of changing the whole tubing with Gen II, I have been wondering if the MAF can get damaged if fine particles of oil get into it over time?

I have used the K&N with vehicles not using a MAF. Any comments or information on these two questions.

dallas75 · September 1999

You use the stock MAF with the K&N set-up. The October issue of Truckin Magazine detailed the installation of a Stillen kit, (similar to the K&N), in which they reinstalled the stock MAF in the same location. You can purchase a aftermarket MAF from Graniteli,(spelling),which also helps to increase flow.

dallas75 · September 1999

I forgot to add this installation was in a 99 Silverado.

zbad71 · September 1999

Cool! Thanks for the info. Hey dallas are you actually from Dallas or is that your name?

Reason I ask is that I used to live in Arlington, have many many friends in Denton County and surrounding areas. Plus, when I get some things wrapped up here in boring Missouri, we are moving to the Dallas area. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Later.

chestnut1 · October 1999

I have a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix SE with the 3.1Liter Multi-Port V6 with a manual 5 speed transmission. I wanted my car to be faster and sound better. First I put a replacement K&N Air Filter on and felt some power improvement. Then I went with custom exhaust, since no one makes anything for it. I put an oversized 2.5 inch random technologies high flow cat on it, oversized 2.5 exhaust pipes, a 2.5inch Flowmaster(meant for a camaro) and 2 dual chrome monza tips on it.As I added the exhaust a bit at a time I noticed more and more power and a guy I know that builds engines for street rods said that the K&N air filter was definetly worth the $48bucks. For those wondering I got about 40-50 extra horses out of those mods. And only spent around $600, not bad for all custom exhaust work.

dnslater · October 1999

You really believe you got 40-50 extra horsepower on with a simple filter and exhaust mod? I would guess 10-15 hp is more realistic

C13 · October 1999

I think 1 or 2 is more like it, and not necessarily *positive* 1 or 2.

I happened to notice a K&N ad the other day. It had a diagram with tight, swirling arrows on the outside of the filter and smoothly curving arrows on the inside. The caption claimed that the K&N filters "straightens" air flow for maiximum power or some such nonsense.

They've given up on trying to build credibility among knowledgeable people. There's no money in that. They're targeting a demographic that thinks that the moon landing was a fake but professional wrestling is real.

And they're more profitable than ever.

wilcox · October 1999

Was thinking about k&n until reading these posts. Not sure...cost benefit over long run looks hmmm, ok...h.p. increase looks hmmm, marginal.
Brainstorm! Want some extra power? Solution: On a clear day with no smog alerts just remove your air filter. Do your little racing bit and then replace it back. Only backpressure restriction to deal with.
For those who are scared about particles stay away from dirt roads or construction areas. Or take one of those home fiberglass air filters cut out the blue, wad it up a little and stuff into intake use a big rubber band (bungie cord) to secure it to the perimeter of the housing. Can use in conjunction with ram air. That'll keep the big chuncks out without restricting flow...most of the tiny stuff just exits thru the exhaust valves..some might get mixed in oil and trapped in oil filter... for best results and most fun do this just before trade-in...wonder how many times this has actually been done?? probably lots.

enigma23 · October 1999

It's really a mixed bag with K&N filters, just like with other products. On some cars K&N filters make power or some cars K&N filters don't make power. Besides the filter it has alot to do with the air mass sensor and how much heat is generated by your engine. Generally installing a open K&N conical filter in the engine bay of a V6 or V8 powered car is going to give a few HP increase if any. A 4-cylinder car is usually going to see the biggest gain in HP with a simple K&N concial filter.

A prime example of this is my car. I installed a K&N conical filter in the engine bay of my 96 Probe GT. Because the V6 engine generates alot of heat the car would actually lose power in hot spring/summer driving. But in the winter the car would definately be quicker.

The design of the mass air sensor also has alot to do with how much power that K&N filter will produce that you just installed. Some cars, like mine, have a archaic mass air sensor that is mechanical instead of electronic. Meaning at full throttle the mass air sensor will only let so much air into the engine. In that case the K&N does very little because only so much air can be pushed passed the mass air sensor. Most newer cars have electronic mass air sensors which don't have any mechanical moving parts. ON these, systems you will generally see a slight power gain.

With a drop in filter the most you may see is 2-5 hp. That's the typically range. With the K&N conical open air filters it's a mixed bag because of hot air. The best system would be to purchase a ram-air system or if nobody makes one then build your own ram-air system using a K&N filter. After I built a Ram-Air system for my car the power is noticeably improved in cold and hot weather.

powerisfun · October 1999

I built a ram-air for my truck. It cost about
$30 in tubing (and connectors), hose clamps, and funnels. There's a noticeable difference in power
even at low speeds because of the cooler air coming in.
-Tim

C13 · October 1999

Have you adjusted the carb or FI system to enrich the mixture? If not you could be driving with a mixture lean enough to burn a valve.

Also, when the vehicle is tuned to run well at speed, when the ram effect is present, how does it run at idle, when stationary?

Ram induction's great, but it's not usually a simple add-on.

powerisfun · October 1999

Yeah, maybe mine is more of what people call
a cold-air induction. I basically modified two
big funnels and placed them in the tow-hook holes (removed the tow hooks) in the airdam under the front bumper. I then connected two 1.5 inch I.D. tubes from the funnels to the air filter box. I cut a separate hole for the tube connection to the airbox, so I doubt the pressure is much higher than before (i.e. not much ram effect since the original air intake from the fender well is still there), just colder/fresher air. A true ram-air would be a closed system except for the ram intake.

I thought today's cars adjust the fuel/air ratio via the mass air-flow sensor and the oxygen sensor, meaning that if the mixture gets too lean, more fuel gets pumped in to enrichen it. I guess there could be a limit to that based on the fuel pump and the regulator, though. Based on the fact that I'm at high altitude (see below), I doubt that running too lean will ever be a problem for me.

The truck runs great at all speeds at this point.
Idle's fine and has more torque at driving rpm. There's this one really big hill I have to climb when going to work (it's a 9% grade for 1.5 miles, I live in mountainous Northern New Mexico). I can now do 63 mph all the way up the hill easily (this is at an altitude of 7000 ft, so it's not as trivial as it may sound) passing most other cars and trucks on the way. Before I could barely muster 57 mph.
-powerisfun

P.S. I also have a K&N filter which was put in a few days after I bought the truck (it's now 13 months old, 11,000 miles).

dgemini · November 1999

For those of you with Ford products Kurtz Kustoms Motorsports makes a great intake kit.

It includs conical filter, MAF, and everything you need to replace the factory airbox, at a LOWER PRICE than K&N.

It's called the KKM True Rev Induction kit.

Heres the URL:

Ford Performance at Kurtz Kustomz Motorsports
Address:

http://www.kustomz.com/index.html

prelude6 · November 1999

I have recently installed a Stillen Hi Flo intake on my 99" Mxima Se. Stillen states that it adds 6 HP in this particular application. I know it may seem difficult to feel such a subtle increase in power, I can say that the throttle response has improved noticeably, and I can feel a small power increase through the RPM curve. The unit is designed by Stillen and utilizes a K&N filter. This is a direct bolt on application, with all hardware included. I paid $169 for the unit and are happy with the small performance gains. The extra growl under the hood took a little getting used to though, as it sounds like the car has headers on it when you drive agressively.

yellowsnow · November 1999

about what wilcox said-is it smart to remove your air filter, and if so how often can you do it? also, how much of a power increase could you expect? thanks for any responses.

vac23 · November 1999

if you remove your air filter you risk getting diry, bugs etc in the engine where it doesn't belong, which can damage you engine. wouldn't recommend it unless you have some bigs bucks to shell out

dgemini · November 1999

Recently installed the KKM True Rev Inductionon my 1999 Mercury Cougar.

I love the growl under the engine that the cone filter makes! However, ike the previous post I did have to get used to it.
I can't really say the car really feels that much faster, but I did smoke a pre-99 V-6 Mustang today! He couldn't even catch me!

I also recently installed a mini-turbo muffler on my car. I really loved the sound the engine made after I installed it, (However I can't hear the engine anymore since I added the KKM two days ago, and I kinda of miss it.)

However, I am probably going to have my resonator removed tomorrow to get more sound out of my Cougar and get a little more flow.

wilcox · November 1999

Removing the air filter will get you that unrestricted air flow...It will give you maximum horsepower without spending a dime at first.

It's the pay me now or pay me later deal. The first time you do it, provided everything is dust free, it probably won't cause any noticeable damage to your mill. But, the more you do it the more chance you have of sucking in contaminates.

If you are smart, then you won't do this. If you don't care, then you can do it a time or two. If you are dumb, then do it a whole bunch of times.

enigma23 · November 1999

Driving with NO Air filter is one of the worst things you can do to your car. It's also one of teh best things to do to your car if you want to KILL it very fast.

dgemini · November 1999

Removed the resonator off my exhaust. What a difference. The growl has moved from under the hood to my exhaust.
I recommend that anyone who adds a cone air filter should remove their resonator also.

I really think that growl under the hood is just an indicaton that your engine isn't able to use all the extra air it's sucking in.

My car is also noticeably faster on the highway. I often race my buddy in his BMW 528i.

He alway's beats me, But since my mods he notices that it takes him longer to catch me now.

SPYDER98 · December 1999

Are you crazy?
How would you feel if somebody was stuffing dead bugs in your mouth???

bhepler · December 1999

Well, I wouldn't feel hungry, that's for sure.

lamp · December 1999

I dropped the K&N replacement air filter to my rodeo last week. Today, i went for the first fill-up since the installation of the K&N air filter.
20.5 MPG a 1mpg increase.
I drive 70 miles a day w/ 50/50 city/hwy driving.

lamp · December 1999

forgot to mention, i also get better throttle response from my 3.2L V-6 w/ the k&N replacement air filter.

manny_bagnas · December 1999

Has anyone checked out the air filters from "Monster Flow" (http://www.monsterflow.com)? They claim its design straightens air flow and eliminates turbulence. I believe I saw a graph indicating a 5hp improvement over K&N. Anyone have this on their car, and if so, does it live up to its claims?

Thanks,
Manny

drcjj · January 2000

just a note on K&N filters, I changed out my 1989 Toyota Landcruiser air filter with a drop in cartridge from K&N and got a better running car as well as an instant improvement in gas mileage, my best ever, 19 mpg, up 2 mpg, on a highway Colorado to New Mexico trip. WOW! I did the same for my '97 landcruiser and got only another.5 mpg but it will pay for itself eventually. drcjj

dcm3 · January 2000

After scanning through the postings, it sounds like puttig a K&N filter in my civic coupe isn't going to boost hp much, but may increase responsiveness. Fine by me, and replacable filter are more cost worthy than buying a new one every 15 or 30k miles. Anyone know if there's replacement for the stock fliter in my car (2000 civic coupe ex)? Or do I need a whole kit (which I probably wouldn't do)?

dakotablack · January 2000

I have me a 2000 dodge dakota, v8, 4x4, ex cab, black and i am looking for accessories to put on it but like to find pictures of a black dakota with diffrent accessories on it to see what it looks like. i like to put a chrome step bar and maybe a brush guard too. I also been looking for stickers of all sorts to put in the back window of my truck but nothing catches my eye so far. is there any suggestions on where to look for them at.
Nick

xorbtant · January 2000

Bars look good but sticker are tacky. But who am I to criticize other tastes in appreance.

edwardh1 · January 2000

Where are the independant third party tests of these filters?
I have not seen any - lacking that, its all hype - and imagination of the benefits. Most factory stuff is pretty good in my opinion. I do not buy aftermarket - most has bad quality and does not fit etc. Wheels out of round, etc etc.

bhepler · January 2000

You just have to do your homework. Much of the aftermarket is of great quality, but there are definitely exceptions.

Good brands (off the top of my head): Vortech, Griggs, K&N, Steeda, Hurst, Taylor, Cervini, etc. etc. etc...

Bad brands (my opinion and others I've talked to): Cincinnati Composites, MAC, Excessive Motorsports

See? Ask around, do your research, and make your decision.

spnx · January 2000

Ok, here's an impartial test. Bear in mind that aftermarket air filters will only make a large difference if the OEM system they replaced is inefficient to begin with. They often are, to judge from the bends and twists one sees in intake hoses. It looks like the engine is put in the car first, and the intake designed afterwards.

My car club rented a dynometer for a 12 hour stretch this past summer, to test hp ratings at the wheels. We took a completely stock NX2000, and tested it with the stock airbox in place. We then let the car cool, and installed a Jim Wolf Technology cone air filter, which uses a K&N brand medium. This piece comes with a brushed aluminium airhorn intake, which smooths the airflow, and may be responsible for some of the gains. Remember that a simple drop-in K&N filter is a completely different kettle of fish, and will be comparable to stock.

I expected 2-3 hp, at the most. We were all shocked to discover that the filter alone created an additional 6 hp @ the wheels!

I tested my car, which also has an aftermarket (freer-flowing) exhaust header, and the combination of these two bolt-ons produced an additional 13 hp @ the wheels.

Your own results WILL vary, this is subject to many other variables, but for the SR20DE engine, the JWT POP is a very well-engineered intake, and worth every penny.

devontie · January 2000

I was told that installing the K & N air filter would dammage the engine and void the warranty. I looked in the owners manual and it said not to replane the air fi;ter with an aftermarket filter.

Has anyone had a K & N filter long term?

bhepler · January 2000

Going on a year and a half, 22,000 miles.

The worst that can happen is that if you over-oil your K&N filter, you can cause the oil to collect on the elements in your MAF sensor. You can clean it with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol.

I have had no such problems.

mich9139 · January 2000

several american manufacturers are now putting k&n's in their cars in the factory. just something to think about. i forget which cars, though (vette, viper?). anyone else read this?

spnx · January 2000

Jerry, I wonder what kind of car you have. I was thinking about your comments when I was at my local dealership. They sell K&N conefilters, so they certainly don't void the Nissan warranties.

wilcox · January 2000

will eventually get to the fuel injectors. Think of all the suction in that manifold..

devontie · January 2000

Frank, I have a 2000, Ford Ranger XCab 2wd.

leathal02 · January 2000

filters are put into GT grand AMs

dont know about the vette or viper

but im pretty sure anything with RAM Air has a K&N filter

projectzx3 · February 2000

anyone familiar with the True-Rev Max Induction kit for the Ford Focus Z-tec motor. I saw it on www.kustomz.com . I was wondering what everyone thinks and can i use a K&N Filter in that unit?

bhepler · February 2000

I bet you can. The picture on that site even looks like a K&N. Just measure it, and check out K&N's web site for a match.

jhg46 · February 2000

Mopar now offers at least one factory induction kit with the K&N filter--for the Durango with the V8.

feilo · February 2000

I put in K&N stock replacement on my '96 Villager about a month ago and have "felt" some performance improvement especially at higher rev's. I used to put in mid-grade (89 Octane) gas to give the Villager a bit of get up & go" but since I put the K&N in, I have gone back to regular (87) grade and have not noticed much difference. Shame they don't do a full induction kit for the Villager ...

rshornsby · February 2000

How long does the element last, a long time, life time or short time?

..

enigmaone · February 2000

K&N filters are for life. Well, maybe not for life, but the filter will probably last a lot longer then you actually own your car.

You only have to buy one element and all you have to do is clean in about every 10K to 15K miles with a $10 cleaner/conditioner kit sold by K&N. Basically you clean it with a spray on cleaner, then wash the filter with a garden hose to wash the debris off, then use the conditioner oil to re-moisturize the filter. Thats it. It takes about 15 minutes to clean and reinstall the filter and the $10 cleaning/conditioning kit will last you 3 to 4 years.

SPYDER98 · February 2000

feilo, it's not a "shame" K&N does'nt make a full induction kit for a family minivan.
How many of these things to you think they would actually be able to sell?
Except for the 1 you would buy.

I think you've been watching to many re-run's of the A-Team lately.

later...

seth11 · February 2000

Purchased a K&N GenerationII for my 91 4Runner Jan '00. I've had about a month and a half to test it, and am completely and totally satisfied.
The unit really makes a noticable difference on this vehicle, as the original intake is very restrictive. A bonus-the Induction noise is deep and throaty , but not intrusive. The installation is not quite as simple as the company claims, due mostly to very confusing directions. However, this part fits very well.(More than I can say for some aftermarket parts I've used in the past) Expect to pay around $200.00 from mail order catalogs.

cc428 · February 2000

I installed one in my '99 Cougar, and you can tell its in there, & like Seth enjoy the howl.

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